Curtis Blaydes vs. Sergei Pavlovich to Headline UFC Event on April 22

Curtis Blaydes and Sergei Pavlovich have agreed to a five-round heavyweight bout to headline UFC Fight Night on April 22.

ESPN was first to report the pairing. UFC Fight Night does not yet have an official location or venue. The card is also expected to include a bantamweight scrap between Yadong Song and Ricky Simon, a lightweight tilt between Bobby Green and Jared Gordon and a featherweight showdown between Norma Dumon and Karol Rosa.

Blaydes has lost just once in his last eight appearances – a second-round KO defeat to Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 185 in February 2021. His last bout ended prematurely when Tom Aspinall suffered a knee injury 15 seconds into their encounter at UFC Fight Night 208 this past July. The Elevation Fight Team representative’s resume includes wins over the likes of Chris Daukaus, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexander Volkov, Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt.

Pavlovich has been victorious in five straight UFC bouts after falling to Overeem in his debut. The 30-year-old Russian has finished all of his opponents inside of a round during that stretch – including a 54-second stoppage of Tai Tuivasa in his last outing at UFC on ESPN 42.